10 Agents Looking for Novels Like “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt

But here’s my premise line for The Harrowing, which is more plot-specific: - Five troubled college students left alone on their isolated campus over the long Thanksgiving break confront their own demons and a mysterious presence – that may or may not be real. I wrote that sentence to quickly convey all the elements I want to get across about this b

ASSIGNMENT: Make a list of ten books (books this time, not films) with first chapters that you love. Now read the first few pages of each, or the whole chapter, and figure out what it is that makes you love those openings so much. Is it the emotion, the characterization, the imagery, the dialogue, the sense of an unseen narrator? What are you drawn

Best-selling books do this masterfully. They combine an overarching main title with an ultra-specific subtitle to create a puzzle of intrigue.

To study how to craft a great third act, you have to look specifically at the endings that work for you. · ASSIGNMENT: If you haven’t done it already, stop now, and make your personal list of ten best endings.